Abstract: A data aggregation and process automation (DAPA) system is disclosed. The DAPA system includes an authentication module, a monitoring module, an intelligent automation module, and a transformation module. The authentication module is configured to initiate authenticated communication with a plurality of servers, and includes an authentication storage having a plurality of authentication credentials and routing information. The monitoring module is configured to monitor a first server for a first change event and monitor a second server for a second change event. The first change event results in the receipt of a first data object and the second change event results in the receipt of a second data object. The intelligent automation module is configured to identify the second server, request a service, and submit an update data object to the first server. The transformation module is configured to transform data objects from one format into another.

Abstract: A method, computer system, and a computer program product for calculating bandwidth requirements is provided. The present invention may include receiving a recovery point objective (RPO). The present invention may also include simulating, using a virtual disk, a set of inter-site data transfers between a first data storage controller and a second data storage controller, wherein the second data storage controller is modelled by the virtual disk. The present invention may then include collecting a set of data correlating to a set of bandwidth factors, based on the simulated set of inter-site data transfers. The present invention may further include calculating, using the virtual disk, a bandwidth required for data replication for disaster recovery, based, at least in part, on the set of bandwidth factors and the RPO.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for coordinating inter-region operations in provider networks. An inter-region coordinator (IRC) operates asynchronously to the control planes of regional networks to coordinate inter-region operations. The IRC in a region may include one or more IRC servers. To perform inter-region operations, the servers may implement a local-remote-local method in which a server invokes an API in the local region to get work, sends the work to a control plane of a remote region, receives a response from the remote region, and informs the control plane in the local region of the status of the work.

Abstract: A method of facilitating a fleet exchange includes retrieving a fleet and retrieving a set of workers, analyzing the fleet and the set of workers using smart scheduling to generate allocations, and displaying the allocations to the workers. In another aspect, a non-transitory computer readable medium includes program instructions that when executed, cause a computer system to receive vehicle allocation request, retrieve worker information and a worker calendar, generate an allocation, and display the allocation in a display device. A computing system for facilitating fleet exchange includes one or more processors and a memory including computer executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to retrieve a fleet and a set of workers, analyze the fleet and the set of workers to generate allocations, and display the allocations in a respective computing device of the workers.

Abstract: The present invention is related to a method for providing dynamic indexer discovery. The method comprises receiving, from an index manager, a status indication associated with a plurality of indexers, wherein each of the plurality of indexers indexes events of raw machine-generated data received from a plurality of data collectors. The method further comprises determining a weight associated with each of the plurality of indexers and selecting an indexer from the plurality of indexers. Subsequently, the method comprises allocating data to the indexer in accordance with a respective weight assigned to the indexer and transmitting the allocated data to the indexer.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for automating the process of mapping repair documents, published by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), to repair information provided in a repair estimate record. A baseline set of repair estimate records specifying one or more parts of a baseline vehicle and an associated set of repair documents specifying instructions for repairing the one or more parts of the baseline vehicle may be saved using a data categorization model in a mapping dataset. The repair documents associated with baseline set of repair estimate records which have been saved in the mapping dataset may then be used to automatically determine associations between another set of repair estimate records and corresponding repair documents.

Abstract: A personalized notification method for a mobility as a service (MaaS) vehicle includes receiving conditional personalized notification features from a passenger of the MaaS vehicle. The method also includes monitoring current driving environment of the MaaS vehicle to determine whether a condition of the conditional personalized notification features is satisfied. The method further includes notifying the passenger when the condition is satisfied via at least one localized output device in a compartment of the MaaS vehicle.

Abstract: A system, method, and computer readable medium for usage billing of one or more hosted applications serving one or more clients. The hosted applications are contained within one or more isolated environments or run without isolated environments. The system may include usage billing based on one or more of resources open, amount of data flowing through resources, number of open files, number of transactions, number of concurrent users, number of processes, CPU utilization and memory usage, The system may further include a management interface where administrators may add, remove and configure isolated environments, configure client policies and credentials, and force upgrades. If using isolated environments, the isolated environments may be isolated from other applications and the host operating system on the clients and applications within the isolated environments may run without performing an application-installation on the client.

Abstract: Endogenous and exogenous variables associated with an item for sale by an affiliate may be displayed to a user of an affiliate decision-making tool. In response to the user selecting one of the endogenous variables, the affiliate decision-making tool may compute a number of introductions, a number of leads, and a number of sales for each of a plurality of possible values of the endogenous variable. The computation may be done utilizing a display position algorithm. A visualization of effects of setting the endogenous variable at different levels may be presented. The user may interact with the display position algorithm to vary one or more of the plurality of possible values of the endogenous variable such that the affiliate is eligible or disqualified to be displayed by an intermediary in response to a search for the item by a visitor of a network site owned and operated by the intermediary.

Abstract: A billing method for a liquid jet device includes, counting a consumed amount of liquid by printing, counting the number of printed sheets, counting a consumed amount of liquid for maintenance of a jet head, calculating a maintenance consumption amount per unit number of sheets, from a maintenance consumption amount consumed in current maintenance, and the number of printed sheets for which printing is performed from previous maintenance to the current maintenance, setting, as a liquid consumption amount, a value obtained by adding the maintenance consumption amount per unit number of sheets, to a print consumption amount consumed in printing for the unit number of sheets, and billing for printing for the same number of sheets as the number of printed sheets performed after the current maintenance, in accordance with the liquid consumption amount.

Abstract: A system for generating a cluster profile is provided. The system may include a server and a database. The server may be configured to receive event information from a plurality of consumer devices. The database may store a plurality of member profiles. The server may be configured to retrieve the member profiles from the database and may determine a subset of member profiles to associate with a cluster; the server may calculate an intersection of the facts from the subset of member profiles and may generate a cluster profile based on the intersection of the facts from the subset of member profiles.

Abstract: An analysis apparatus comprises: a processor; and a storage device that stores a prediction model that predicts results for contributing factors of a group of events, wherein the processor executes: a prediction error calculation process in which, on the basis of a first prediction value attained by providing the prediction model with a first appearance frequency for contributing factors of a first event among the group of events, and results corresponding to the first appearance frequency, a prediction error of the first prediction value is calculated; and an error factor extraction process in which, on the basis of a correlation between a second appearance frequency for a contributing factor of a second event among the group of events and the prediction error calculated by the prediction error calculation process, an error factor of the prediction error is extracted from among the contributing factors of the first event.

Abstract: The present application is at least directed to an M2M gateway apparatus. The apparatus includes a non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon for service layer online charging of a service layer event. The apparatus also includes a processor operably coupled to the non-transitory memory configured to execute a set of instructions. One of the instructions includes sending, to a service layer charging function of an M2M server, a service layer rating request message for the service layer online charging of the service layer event detected by the M2M gateway. The service layer event is triggered by an application registered to the M2M gateway and that performs a read or write operation on a resource of the M2M gateway. Another one of the instructions includes receiving, from the service layer charging function of the M2M server, a rating response including the calculated amount of service units required for the M2M gateway to process the service layer event.

Abstract: User interfaces are provided for improved data optimization. A model user interface can be used to generate models based on a historical data file based on modeling details and filters specified by a user. The user can save the models and apply the models to optimize a data file. The user can specify optimization details and see visualizations of the results.

Abstract: A system for a region including a processor to receive data including weather and component data. Generate a dataset for the region to identify weather events and a plurality of model forcings converted into tabular form. A machine learning (ML) model for each model forcing for each component uses dataset. Iteratively, for each weather event: identify for each component a corresponding model forcing with weather variables. Generate an output value for ML model corresponding to the identified components to the set of weather variables and update ML model. Receive observed data over time periods of an impending weather (IW) event. Iteratively, for each time period: identify, for each component a corresponding model forcing with weather variables and update ML model. Generate for the updated ML model, an output value predicting a component status as a failed or not failed for the time period.

Abstract: A method for coordinating charging processes of electric vehicles. A respective supply signal (S1), with at least data on an available quantity of energy and a current geographic position, is transmitted by mobile supplier units, and a respective demand signal (S2), with at least data on a demanded quantity of energy and a current geographic position, is transmitted by mobile procuring units to a central computer (P2). On the basis of the supply signals (S1) and the demand signals (S2), possible combinations, each composed of a supplier unit and a procuring unit, together with a respective evaluation value, are created by the central computer (P3). Specific combinations are selected by an optimization method (P4), and respective selected combinations and data regarding an energy transfer process are transmitted to the respective supplier units and the respective procuring units of the selected combinations by a coordination signal (S3) (P5).

Abstract: A technological solution for controlling generation or distribution of electric power in a power generation and distribution network. The solution includes modeling and forecasting electricity demand in the power generation and distribution network, which includes a plurality of nodes each having cooling appliances, heating appliances, or both cooling and heating appliances. The solution includes, among other things, building a per-capita parametric model of an electric demand curve for a geographic region, modeling residual intraday variations in electric demand, determining an average residual variation in demand, iteratively optimizing the residual intraday variations in demand and the average residual variation in demand, and determining electricity demand per-capita for the geographic region.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a service receives a feature availability report indicative of which telemetry variables are available at a device in a network and resource costs associated with data features that the device could compute from the telemetry variables. The service selects at least a subset of the data features for input to a machine learning model, based on their associated resource costs and on their respective impacts on one or more performance metrics for the machine learning model. The service trains the machine learning model to evaluate the selected data features. The service sends the trained machine learning model to the device. The device computes the selected data features from the telemetry variables available at the device and uses the computed data features as input to the machine learning model.

Abstract: A video analytics based image verification system for obtaining initial vehicle profiles is presented. The system may include an external processing server that receives a location of a vehicle and proximate traffic information to determine whether it is safe for a user to obtain an initial vehicle profile. The external processing server may further determine first and second profile features from video data indicative of the vehicle. The external processing server may compare the second profile feature to an image verification indicator to generate an image verification score. A provider server may receive the first profile feature and the image verification score from the external processing server, and update a risk evaluation to include the initial vehicle profile if the image verification score is above an image verification threshold.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for dynamic modification of interruptibility settings of network-accessible resources are disclosed. A system includes a resource manager and a plurality of resource instances, each of which has an interruptibility setting. In response to an instance acquisition request, the resource manager allocates an instance with a first interruptibility setting, allowing the resource manager to revoke the client's access to the instance without a notification. In response to an approval of an interruptibility upgrade request, the resource manager modifies the interruptibility setting to a second setting that allows the client to retain access to the instance for at least a specified time. Respective billing amounts for the client's use of the instance are determined for each of the interruptibility settings used.

Abstract: A system for calculating energy pricing includes a variety of categories and subcategories of user-selectable preconfigured profiles to derive a detailed, accurate energy profile based on minimal price request information. This profile defines the energy load being priced and its accuracy approaches that which is obtainable through using meter data, but without the need for obtaining and managing such data. The system quickly and accurately calculates both current day and historical pricing based on a single price request by processing the effective dates of time dependent variables, inputs, algorithms, and/or parameters. Managing these effective dates ensures the price output takes into account ongoing market changes in supply, distribution, and/or tax price factors that are known as of the date of the price request and take effect during the future contract term defined by the price request.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with controlling inventory depletion by offering different prices to different customers are described. In one embodiment, a method includes establishing first and second allocations of fulfillment centers to different geographic regions during a markdown phase. Different price schedules are determined for the orders to be fulfilled during the markdown phase based on the first and second allocations. A predicted profit is generated for the orders fulfilled under each of the different price schedules. A price schedule corresponding to the first allocation is selected as resulting in a greater predicted profit than another one of the different price schedules. A sale terminal is controlled to enact the selected price schedule during the markdown phase to cause fulfillment of the incoming orders according to the first allocation of the fulfillment centers.

Abstract: A platform and components for an automated consumer retail utility marketplace are provided, including components for machine learning, components for gamification, and components for supporting a related consumer mobile application that enables improved visibility and control by a consumer over its interaction with energy markets.

Abstract: A method for predicting a topography information item for a vehicle includes assigning at least one respective topography information item to each of the different travel positions of the vehicle, determining a future travel position, and querying at least one topography information item assigned to the determined future travel position.

Abstract: A device may receive historical cloud data associated with resources of a cloud computing environment, and may receive historical customer data associated with requested resource usage by customers of the cloud computing environment. The device may determine a usage growth profile based on the historical cloud data and the historical customer data, and may determine, based on the historical cloud data and the historical customer data, usage deviation data indicating deviations between actual and planned resource usage. The device may train a model, with the usage growth profile and the usage deviation data, to generate a trained model, and may receive a request for new resource usage by a customer associated with the cloud computing environment. The device may process the request for the new resource usage, with the trained model, to generate projected resource usage data, and may perform actions based on the projected resource usage data.

Abstract: The present invention relates to verification of damage to vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a universal approach to automated generation of a damage estimate to a vehicle using images of the vehicle and verification of a manually-generated damage repair proposals using the automatically generated damage estimate. Aspects and/or embodiments seek to provide a computer-implemented method of generating one or more repair estimates from one or more photos of a damaged vehicle and comparing the generated estimate(s) to one or more input repair estimates to verify the one or more input repair estimates.

Abstract: Systems and methods for routing requests to dynamically cached mappings are disclosed. A system may comprise a memory storing instructions and at least one processor configured to execute instructions to perform operations including: receiving an access request to access first item data from a user device, the access request having an access key; based on the access key, routing the request to a server having an in-memory cache with multiple partitions associated with different access key types and storing the first item data and second item data; receiving, from the server, the first item data; and transmitting the first item data to the user device.

Abstract: A method for determining a preferred control strategy relating to control of a manufacturing process for manufacturing an integrated circuit. The method includes: obtaining process data associated with a design of said integrated circuit; and obtaining a plurality of candidate control strategies configured to control the manufacturing process based on the process data, each candidate control strategy including an associated cost metric based on an associated requirement to implement the candidate control strategy. A quality metric related to an expected performance of the manufacturing process is determined for each candidate control strategies, and a preferred control strategy is selected based on the determined quality metrics and associated cost metrics for each candidate control strategy.

Abstract: An online agricultural system manages and optimizes interactions of entities within the system to enable the execution of transaction and the transportation of crop products. The online agricultural system accesses historic and environmental data describing factors that may impact crop product transactions and/or transportation to determine market prices for crop products and crop product transportation. Responsive to receiving a request from an entity, the online agricultural system determines an optimal transaction for the entity, such as a price for selling a crop product, an available crop product for purchase, or a transportation opportunity to transport a crop product.

Abstract: A method for generating a fault tree of a multi-component system is provided. The multicomponent system includes a logical-functional system layer and a physical system layer as different layers of abstraction. The physical system layer may correspond, for example, to software and/or hardware implementing the functional aspects of the logical-functional system layer. The method first provides a logical-functional fault tree for the logical-functional system layer and a physical fault tree for the physical system layer, the latter having elements corresponding to elements in the logical-functional fault tree. Next, a mixed-layer fault tree is generated by combining aspects of both fault trees in a systematic way. The disclosed is particularly relevant for analyzing safety-critical systems. However, the present concepts are not limited to these applications and may be applied to general use cases where fault tree analysis is applicable.

Abstract: Systems and methods for sourcing participants for a usability study are provided. In some embodiments the systems and methods receive study parameters including the type of study, time-to-field of the study, required number of participants, and required participant attributes. Additionally, a set of business rules for the study are received. These business rules may be received from a client, extrapolated from a service contract with a client for which the study is being performed, or generated based on the monitored outcomes of sourcing of previous studies. Next, panel sources for potential participants and pricing data are queried, and a set of the sources are selected based upon the pricing data. Participants are then received from these sources, which are then fielded in the study and monitored for outcomes.

Abstract: An example operation may include one or more of storing a plurality of transactions in a carbon footprint blockchain, each stored transaction including one or more items and a carbon footprint associated with the one or more items included in the transaction, receiving a transaction processing request from a merchant terminal, the transaction processing request including an identification of an item and a user identification, executing chaincode which determines an aggregate carbon footprint of the user based on a carbon footprint of the item and a carbon footprint of one or more previous purchases of the user stored in the carbon footprint blockchain, and transmitting information about the determined aggregate carbon footprint of the user to the merchant terminal.

Abstract: The present invention refers to a digital method of centralizing, optimizing and negotiating the purchase of goods and services implemented by computer, wherein at least one authorised user (101) by the company or purchase centre (108), identifies the products (102) to be acquired and proceeds to consult with at least one potential supplier (103) through a digital purchase platform (109), hosted in a dedicated server, locally or in a cloud. The company or purchase centre (109) proceeds to validate the proposals (104) from the suppliers (103), and can create different, economically more advantageous choice scenarios from the proposals (104) that satisfy all the restrictions imposed by the company or purchase centre (109) and by the suppliers (103).

Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer-readable storage media for calculating, for each operator in a set of operators, a set of costs, each cost associated with a data format and including a first segment indicating a cost of an operator to convert an incoming data format to an access format and a second segment indicating a cost based on a set of costs of one or more ancestors of the operator, a conversion cost, and a materialization cost, indicating, along the path within the query plan, a location representing execution of a conversion from a first data format to a second data format, the location being selected based on the sets of costs, and providing the query plan with the location for execution to generate a query result, wherein during execution of the query plan, conversion of data from the first data format to the second data format occurs at the location.

Abstract: A method and system for determining available shipment options between origin and destination address locations includes defining a plurality of service area polygons as geospatial objects in a geospatial database that correspond to geographic service areas served by a carrier, building a plurality of route definitions that define the shipping services between each origin/destination pair of service area polygons, and defining a plurality of route guide polygons as geospatial objects in the geospatial database that further limit the available shipping services at predetermined locations within the service area polygons.

Abstract: A work request data system wherein a user a person such a homeowner to access and possess accurate information about the physical measurements of a structure or other object as derived from a three-dimensional model of the property. The interface generates the measurement through an extraction module.

Abstract: A method and associated system of managing advertising spending in an advertising campaign for an online marketplace seller, including, under control of one or more processors configured with executable instructions, defining a sales goal; setting a daily advertising budget and a bid value for an advertising campaign of the product; executing the advertising campaign; automatically collecting sales data relating to the product on the online marketplace; executing a machine learning component of an adaptive machine learning platform to generate a machine learning component output, at least in part based on the sales data; generating, based at least in part on the machine learning component output of the machine learning component, one or more sales milestones for the product on the online marketplace; comparing the sales data to the one or more sales milestones; and adjusting the daily advertising budget or the bid value to meet the sales goal.

Abstract: Downtime resulting from converting a software program from a source system to a target system, is forecast, explored, and optimized. A benchmark for a practice conversion test run (including a downtime component) is received as a first input and displayed for exploration. A second input is received comprising a statistic stored in a conversion database and reflecting a prior actual software conversion process run. The benchmark and the statistic are processed with reference to an expert rule set, to generate an optimized result comprising an updated benchmark having a changed downtime component. The updated benchmark including the changed downtime component, is displayed. Processing may occur in conjunction with further input comprising an acceptance of a generated recommendation, and/or changing a data volume of the practice conversion test run. Embodiments may feed back to the conversion database, statistics resulting from a formal software conversion run conducted according to the optimized result.

Abstract: A service providing server providing a delivery service delivering ink includes an obtaining section configured to obtain first use information associated with use of the delivery service by a first user, a determination section configured to determine a corresponding charge plan which is one of charge plans of the delivery service corresponding to the first use information obtained by the obtaining section based on the first use information obtained by the obtaining section, second use information associated with use of the delivery service by a second user, and a selected charge plan which is one of the charge plans of the delivery service selected by the second user, and a display controller configured to display corresponding charge plan information indicating the corresponding charge plan determined by the determination section in a terminal device of the first user.

Abstract: A server is provided. The server includes a communicator comprising communication circuitry, a memory and a processor configured to control the server to store information on a plurality of safety components included in a plurality of vehicles received through the communicator, combine at least one safety component of the plurality of vehicles based on the information on the stored plurality of safety components, and identify surroundings of the plurality of vehicles using the combined safety components.

Abstract: A prescription management system is used by an orthodontic or dental lab and a plurality of prescribing users who send prescriptions for customized orthodontic or dental appliances to the lab. The prescriptions are stored in a database selectively accessible by the lab and plurality of prescribing users. A digital workspace is provided in the system in which the lab or prescribing users may create designs for the customized appliances. The designs of the appliances are stored in the database. A tracking record of fabrication of the appliances is stored in the database. A plurality of billings are simultaneously generated in response to the submissions and storage of the prescriptions, the designs of the customized appliances and the fabrication of the designed customized appliances.

Abstract: A mobile device runs a tolling application program that, in part, can perform several vehicle occupant detection processes in order to verify the number of occupants in a vehicle. When the number of occupants is verified, then (when the number is more than one) discounts on tolls can be applied to toll transactions. In order to avoid the effect of false positive detections, several occupant sensing modalities are used and the results of each are evaluated to ensure that the correct number of occupants has been determined.

Abstract: A method for execution by a dispersed storage and task (DST) processing unit includes obtaining audit records for an audit object and determining when the audit object is complete. When the audit object is complete, aggregating the audit records of the audit object within the audit object by generating the audit object to include the audit records; generating identifier (ID) information and generating integrity information. Fields of the audit object are populated with the audit records, the ID information, and the integrity information and a name of the audit object is determined for storage of the audit object and the name of the audit object in a dispersed storage network (DSN).

Abstract: The disclosure provides a parking management system and a parking management method. The parking management system can comprise one or more servers in communication with one or more vehicles. The one or more vehicles can be configured to be shared and utilized by one or more users for transportation. The one or more servers can be configured to receive location data from the one or more vehicles, and determine, based on the received location data and for each vehicle, whether the vehicle is located within one or more predefined parking areas when (1) the vehicle is not in use or (2) upon completion of a transportation trip by the vehicle.

Abstract: Systems and methods for creating a recommendation engine of a process modeling server and automatically comparing tickets by the recommendation engine are disclosed. The recommendation engine may be generated by digitizing a seat map of a venue that characterizes one or more interrelationships between the seats. After creation, the process modeling server receives a notification that a ticket holder's ticket to an event taking place at a venue has been cancelled or become otherwise unavailable. The process modeling server compares one or more attributes of the now-unavailable ticket to one or more rules maintained by a recommendation engine of the process modeling server. The recommendation engine generates one or more substitute ticket alternatives based on the comparison for selection. The recommendation engine may refine the one or more rules over time based on actual customer selection.

Abstract: A system and method are presented for using a plurality of data caches to increase the efficiency of a computing system in an e-commerce environment. Separate caches with distinct time-to-live values are created, one each for customer information, customer cart contents, and product pricing data. Product pricing is pre-analyzed using a pricing data engine that calculates multiple potential prices for a single item that is then stored in the product pricing data cache. This data can then be used in a variety of contexts to determine different pricing for the same product without requiring another request for product data from the pricing data engine. When a product is viewed during catalog browsing, all information needed to determine pricing for that particular user might be accessible from the data caches for fast processing.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure relate to item transportation management. Package characteristics of a first package are determined. A set of unstructured data is processed to determine a transportation constraint associated with a transportation path. The package characteristics of the first package are compared to the transportation constraint. A determination is made that the package characteristics of the first package do not satisfy the transportation constraint based on the comparison. A reconfiguration recommendation is then issued to an individual associated with the first package in response to the determination that the package characteristics of the first package do not satisfy the transportation constraint.

Abstract: Methods and systems are disclosed enabling establishment of a direct connection between a first device connected to a first network and a second device connected to a second network upon finding a permission response from a third device connected to a third network. Establishment of the direct connection is controlled by a second network node associated with the second network. A connection request is received from the first device at at least one of the second network node or a third network node associated with the third network and a permission indication is found indicating that a connection with the second device is subject to permission from the third device. A permission response may be found from the third device to permit the connection request for enabling establishment of the direct connection. Establishing of the direct connection is enabled between the first device and the second device in response to finding the permission response.

Abstract: An online agricultural system manages and optimizes interactions of entities within the system to enable the execution of transaction and the transportation of crop products. The online agricultural system accesses historic and environmental data describing factors that may impact crop product transactions and/or transportation to determine market prices for crop products and crop product transportation. Responsive to receiving a request from an entity, the online agricultural system determines an optimal transaction for the entity, such as a price for selling a crop product, an available crop product for purchase, or a transportation opportunity to transport a crop product.

Abstract: A collision avoidance and road safety system is applied to a road network comprised of a plurality of road segments for a location to produce real time or dynamic forecasting of collision risk and root causes of the potential collision.